Smart grid VC investment took a big jump in the third quarter of 2012, reversing some pretty meager figures for the past few years. But the lion’s share of that jump in investment -- as well as a big chunk of the merger and acquisition activity in the third quarter -- was directed at startups with technology that goes in the home, rather than on the grid.

But more than half of that third-quarter boost was made up of Alarm.com’s $136 million round in July, aimed at expanding the startup’s whole-home connectivity technology suite, now installed in 1 million homes and counting. Alarm.com has a partnership with Verizon Wireless to link security cameras, remote-controlled door locks, motion-sensor lights and other such home devices in a wireless network connected to Verizon’s home automation management platform -- one of several telecommunications-driven efforts to colonize the home with smart devices.

These aren’t precisely smart grid businesses, although it’s possible for utilities to leverage home area networks like these for smart grid purposes in the future. Still, investments like these are no doubt welcome by the dozens of startups struggling to grow a market for home energy management and automation technologies, which still exist in only a tiny fraction of the homes out there. Residential solar in particular is something utilities would like to connect to, since it can either destabilize or support the grid, depending on how its intermittent power flows are managed.

Other smart grid fundings of note in the third quarter include $23.3 million for GridPoint, a startup we haven’t heard from for awhile. The Arlington, Va.-based company has raised about $270 million from investors and bought a string of companies in the vehicle-to-grid, home energy management and commercial energy efficiency lines. Then, in 2010, it replaced its founding CEO Peter Corsell and laid off staff amidst reports that the company hadn’t managed to capitalize on its sprawling portfolio.